Eighth Meal - Buddha Jumps Over the Wall (2)

Both of them couldn't help being taken aback by this sudden declaration of love.

The world that they came from was one where modesty was valued, so there was no one who declared their love like this in public.

Of course, even on Earth, this was strange.

As for the one who did scream this out, it was naturally Elsie who had come again today to bother Kai.

Yami had kept her promise to Elsie and had dragged Kai here for her.

Kai couldn't do anything against the two of them, so he just allowed himself to be dragged to the restaurant. It was just a good thing that his store was already very successful, so he had several people working under him.

Even if he wasn't there, they would still be able to run the bakery for him.

So he was forced to sit here listening to Elsie declare his love for him.

In short, he had given up…

He had already tried many different ways to calm her down and make her give up, but it didn't work in the end. So all he could do was sit here and listen to her without saying a thing.

He was already in more than enough trouble with his wife…

To the side, there was a beautiful blonde and a dwarf with a bushy beard who were just enjoying their own dishes while enjoying his misery.

These two were Angela and Gondor Firebeard, the other two members of the heroes party.

Seeing them sitting there like this, he couldn't help asking with a bitter smile, "Can't you help?"

Both of them looked at him with smiles before giving a shrug as if there was nothing that they could do.

In fact, this was their way of punishing him for not coming back all these years. At the very least, he could have given them a sign that he was still alive even if he hadn't come back.

They had been worried about him for the last twenty years, so now making him suffer like this was just a bit of revenge.

Of course, it also didn't help that they supported Elsie.

They had watched over the two of them during their journey and had always cheered Elsie on. So now that they found out that Kai already had a wife and child, they couldn't help feeling even more supportive and sorry for her.

Kai really had no allies in this room.

After staring at them for a bit, the senior brother and junior sister also couldn't help smiling since they had a vague understanding of what was happening.

They turned their attention back to the menus and started carefully looking through it.

There were a few dishes that they recognized since they also existed in their world, but there were plenty of dishes that they didn't recognize. Luckily for them, there were detailed descriptions provided with each dish and most of them had pictures as well.

Seeing these dishes from another world, they couldn't help wondering just what they tasted like.

Of course, it wasn't possible for them to eat all of these dishes today since even if they were cultivators that could eat a lot, there was still a limit to how much they could eat at each meal.

They just kept flipping through the menu, enjoying the different otherworld meals that were listed in there until something finally caught their eyes.

"Buddha Jumps Over the Wall? Why does this sound so strange?" The senior brother couldn't help asking.

The junior sister looked at the dish that the senior brother pointed out and read the description for it before shaking her head in a confused manner.

She also couldn't help being confused by this name.

Buddhism existed in their cultivation world, but it was considered a minor religion. It didn't have the same popularity it did on Earth.

That was because in their cultivation world, strength was key.

There weren't any powerful Buddhist monks that supported the Buddhism religion, so Buddhism was considered a fringe religion that was only popular among the mortals.

There were only a few that had achieved enlightenment through Buddhism, but those people had only reached the Nascent Soul Realm and no further, so that was why Buddhism had never spread.

Still, they couldn't help being more and more attracted to this name because it really was too strange for them not to pay attention to it.

The senior brother asked, "Why would a Buddhist jump over a wall? What does that achieve?"

The junior sister shook her head with a confused look, indicating that she didn't understand it at all.

It was at this time that Anna came back with their water.

Seeing her arrive at their table, the senior brother lifted the menu and pointed at the Buddha Jumps Over the Wall as he asked, "Excuse me, can you tell me what this is?"

Anna looked where he was pointing before revealing a surprised look and a strange smile.

The senior brother noticed this and he couldn't help asking, "Is something wrong?"

Anna just said with the same smile, "Well, a cultivator asking me about the Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, it's normal to find it strange."

While the senior brother couldn't really understand why Anna found this strange, he took advantage of the fact that she brought up this topic to ask, "I wanted to ask, why would a Buddhist jump over a wall? That doesn't make any sense."

Anna gave a nod since she figured that this was the case, so she told him the story of the Buddha Jumps Over the Wall.

The story behind the Buddha Jumps Over the Wall was that a scholar was traveling across the land with his friends. This scholar kept all of his food inside of a clay jug normally used for wine and whenever it was time for a meal, he would heat up the food inside this clay jug.

One day, he and his friends camped near a Buddhist temple while eating.

The scholar cooked his food as per usual, but the smell was so enticing that it even caused the Buddhist to jump over the wall.

"And that's why it's called Buddha Jumps Over the Wall." Anna finished her story.

The senior brother and the junior sister were still confused. The senior brother couldn't help asking, "Instead of jumping over the wall, why didn't he just go out and eat with the scholar?"

Anna revealed a wry smile as she said, "It's a poetic way to describe how delicious it is. Even though the Buddhist monk isn't allowed to have it, they were still willing to jump over the wall to eat it."

Instead of revealing looks of understanding, the senior brother and the junior sister revealed even more confused looks.

However, it was what they were confused by that was strange.

Instead of being confused by why the Buddhist monk jumped over the wall, they were confused by how Anna had said that they weren't allowed to eat it. Why wouldn't the Buddhist monk be allowed to eat it?

The senior brother once again asked, "Why can't the monk eat it? It's not as if the scholar would be too stingy to share, right?"

Anna looked at the senior brother with a strange look as she said, "Well, Buddhist monks can't eat meat and Buddha Jumps Over the Wall is a famous meat dish, so of course the Buddhist monk can't eat it."

The senior brother and the junior sister looked at each other with confused looks as they whispered amongst themselves.

"Buddhist monks can't eat meat? Why have I never heard that before?"

"I don't know. I never heard that Buddhist monks can't eat meat either. In fact, I even saw that they were roasting lambs in their yard the last time I went to the capital."

Anna's ears were sharp and she was able to hear their whispers.

Hearing these whispers, it was her turn to reveal a confused look.

She couldn't understand what they were talking about because the Buddhist monks that she knew about were all famous vegetarians.

But then she realized her own mistake.

Before coming to this world, she didn't even know what a Buddhist was. So her perception of a Buddhist was what she had learned while in this world, the Earth's version of a Buddhist.

But this place was the Between World Restaurant, so that didn't mean that everyone's perception of a Buddhist was the same.

It was already a miracle that Buddhism existed in another world, so she shouldn't expect it to be the same as Buddhism in this world. It was most likely that Buddhism was a different religion in their world that had the same name as the one in this world, but that didn't mean that the beliefs were the same.

So she shouldn't use her common sense with the people of other worlds.

After realizing this, Anna quickly explained, "The Buddhism that I'm talking about is the Buddhism in this world. The Buddhism in your world should be a religion with a similar name, but different beliefs, so you shouldn't compare the two."

The senior brother and junior sister were surprised by this, but then quickly gave a nod.

As cultivators, they had quick and open minds, so they quickly accepted Anna's explanation.

At the same time, they couldn't help feeling, "This really is a different world, isn't it?"

This thought filled them with excitement.

After settling this matter, the senior brother pointed at the line for Buddha Jumps Over the Wall and said, "Can I order a portion of this then? I'm very curious what it tastes like now that I know the story."

Anna gave a nod and then turned to the junior sister to ask, "And for you, miss?"

The junior sister looked down at the menu and after thinking about it, "Can I have the same as my senior brother?"

Anna thought about it and said, "Then how about a large portion with some rice? That way you two can share it."

Both the senior brother and junior sister nodded when they heard this.

Anna took their order and then said, "I'll go send your order in. Please wait a minute."

After Anna was gone, the senior brother and junior sister went back to looking around the restaurant.

All the different people here really piqued their interest and they could never get tired of watching them. Not to mention that there were more and more interesting people that came in from time to time.

There was one person that was a bit short that had an arm and a leg that was made of metal that came in. They had never thought that it was possible to create limbs out of metal.

There was a person that had a pair of wings and a tail sticking out their butt that came. These wings were like the wings of a bat and the tail looked like the end of a whip.

There were all different kinds of people that went and came that they never tired of.

While they were watching these people, there was a group in traditional Chinese robes that came over. When they stopped at the table, the leader of the group, a handsome young man, said, "Hello fellow cultivators, can we sit with you?"

The senior brother and the junior sister were surprised by this, but they gave a nod before the senior brother said, "Fellow cultivator, please take a seat."

Their group sat down before the leader asked, "Fellow cultivators, which sect are you from?"

The senior brother said, "We're from Heaven Piercing Sect."

"Heaven Piercing Sect." The leader repeated before saying with a smile, "That really is a bold name." Then after a pause, he said, "We're from the Sky Crushing Sect."

The senior brother revealed a wry smile when he heard this.

Sky Crushing Sect…and he was saying that the Heaven Piercing Sect was a bold name.

But since the other side was acting friendly, there was no reason for him to lose his temper with them.

The two sides began talking to each other and exchanging information, but of course neither side gave any important information.

After a while, the leader of the group suddenly asked, "This brother, I'm ashamed to even ask you this, but what is the greatest sect in the world?"

The senior brother nodded and said, "It's nothing to be ashamed about. How about we say it at the same time?"

The leader nodded before saying his answer, "The Sky Crushing Sect, right?"

The senior brother had said at the same time, "The Heaven Piercing Sect."

"Huh?"

Both of them said this at the same time.